Heat transfer enhancement by spinodal decomposition in micro heat exchangers

► A mixture of acetone-hexadecane is quenched to induce spinodal decomposition. ► The heat transfer rate is enhanced by self-induced convective effect. ► We report a heat-transfer augmentation of up to 150% when phase separation occurs. ► We measure the heat transfer with a feedback method instead of a direct measure. ► We fabricated three copper microheat exchangers to visualize the induced convection.